Yankeemetrics: June 6-8 (Royals)

The Chase is On
The Yankees started their 10-game road trip with a 4-2 win over the Royals, getting a timely hit from the strugglingBrian McCann and a strong outing from rookie Chase Whitley.

Whitley earned his first major-league win, allowing two runs in seven innings. Prior to this outing he had four no-decisions in four career starts, which made him the first Yankees pitcher to make a start in each of his first four major-league games and record a no-decision in each of them, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Two key stats have made Whitley successful so far in his rookie campaign: zero home runs allowed and just three walks in 26 innings.

He is one of two Yankees in the last 30 years to not allow a homer in each of his first five major-league starts. The other is Chien-Ming Wang, who also started his career with five homer-free starts in 2005.

Whitley is one of 37 Yankees in the last 100 years to make a start in each of his first five career games. Of those 37 players, only Fritz Peterson had fewer walks in those first five outings (1) than Whitley (3).

McCann had the biggest hit for Yankees in the win, a three-run double in the third inning to break a 1-1 tie. That feat earns him our Obscure Yankeemetric of the Series: McCann is the first Yankee catcher with a bases-loaded double on the road vs the Royals. Congrats!

Not a KC Masterpiece
The Yankees five-game win streak in Kansas City came to an end on Saturday night thanks to an 8-4 loss. It was the team’s third-longest win streak on the road vs the Royals and the longest since a seven-game win streak from 2000-02.

The Yankees may have won 12 of their first 13 road games started by rookie pitchers, but they can’t seem to win any of David Phelps‘ road starts. They have now have lost all five road games started by Phelps this season, the longest such streak since the Yankees lost the first seven road starts by Scott Kamieniecki in 1992.

Phelps had his worst outing of the season, allowing a career-high 10 hits and seven runs in 5⅔ innings. He is the first Yankee to allow at least seven earned runs and 10 hits in fewer than six innings against the Royals.

RISP Fail
Normally, 10 baserunners and 17 at-bats with runners in scoring position should net you more than one run – except when you are the 2014 New York Yankees and mired in a horrible offensive slump. The Yankees lost to the Royals on Sunday, 2-1, as they went 1-for-17 with runners in scoring position and stranded nine baserunners.

The .059 batting average with RISP matched the Yankees worst in a single game with at least 15 at-bats over the last 40 seasons. Their other 1-for-17 games came in 1998 against the Tigers and in 2005 versus the Mets.

Even worse, the Yankees went 0-for-9 with a man on third base, the first time they have done that in a game in at least the last six seasons and the first major-league team to go hitless in at least nine at-bats with a man on third this season.

The Yankees haven’t scored more than four runs in 10 straight games, matching their longest single-season streak over the last 20 seasons (also done in 2005).

Former ESPN researcher; forever baseball and Yankees fan. Now living in northern Vermont and the color of the front door of our house is Yankee blue. Also write about college football and basketball and the NFL. Bleed Huskies blue (that's UConn, of course).